Scarlet Butterfly
by Faith-o-saurus
Summary: Sometimes decisions are hard to make, and sometimes you don't realize the answer until it's too late.


**So I have been sitting here, wanting to do homework or studying or _something_ when I realized there was absolutely nothing. I had already finished my homeowrk earlier today and I don't have anymore tests for two weeks, plus already looking through the day of new notes I got from Biology.**

**For some reason, it just doesn't feel good not having anything to do, so I had to write something. **

**Which brings us to this.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. They belong to DC Comics and WB.**

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><p>"Robin, do you love me?"<p>

Robin looked up at Starfire, who was currently in front of him in the evidence room, hugging herself as she looked at him in anticipation.

Robin swallowed and set down the latest villain's gadget he had been working on, turning fully to her. He refused to rise, though; he was stuck in place, glued to the chair. "I…" He glanced down, not able to look her in the eyes anymore.

Starfire's eyes turned sad, tears shining in her eyes, and she turned to leave.

Robin looked up, his eyes wide. "Starfire, don't-"

The door slid shut.

Robin sighed and got off of the chair, grabbing the gadget on the table and throwing it across the room, watching the small object break in two. He snorted, finding it ironic that such a powerful 'toy', per say, could break so easily. There wasn't time to think so trivial, though. He had to get to her. Had to expla-

Red filled the room as the alarm went off. All thought left him as he ran out of the room and to the ops. room, tapping away at the keyboard of the main console, feeling the presence of his teammates behind him. His brow furrowed in determination as he pulled up the screen, zooming in on the location. "Fifth dock on the corner of Reid and Linkin. Titans, go!"

He didn't even turn to them as he hurried out the door and on his R-Cycle, knowing that his thoughts would become clouded if he saw her face. That angelic face that haunted his dreams, both night and day.

They had been dating for a good three years now, away from the young teenage years while in Tokyo, and things had been perfect. Sure there were the small fights every now and again, but so small and insignificant that they would be forgotten the next day. He would take her on dates at least once a week, extras for holidays or if he just felt like it, and would gift her with 'bountiful floral arrangements', as she so kindly referred to them when stranded on the hostile alien planet.

Things have been getting more serious, he could tell. Just the feel of things; the small differences in their everyday routines, how easy it was to seemingly merge as one. To all of Jump City they were known as the 'model couple'. The couple that everyone wanted to be like. The _perfect_ couple. And now Starfire was asking the one question he couldn't answer. A question that would have been already brought up if it were any other relationship at the three year mark, but not theirs. It had to come, he knew, but that didn't mean he was prepared.

And now she was crushed.

It wasn't that he didn't care for her, or that he flat out didn't love her. He had just never thought it over, therefore he didn't _know_. He needed to overanalyze everything; it was just in his nature. Since he hadn't set down a time to think all of this over, he couldn't provide a definite answer. But that didn't matter, not now. She was hurting, and it was because of him.

He then felt his stomach drop.

Her powers depended upon her emotions. Her emotions were compromised at the moment…and they were about to head straight into a fight. He was careless to not check _who_ exactly was at the docks, and now he was hoping desperately that it was someone that would not pose much of a threat, like Control Freak. He hoped to God that was true.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he caught sight of the dock, skidding to a stop. He jumped off of his bike and was already running over to the scene when he heard the T-Car screech to a stop. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the form of Dr. Light jump down in front of him. Already in a bad mood, he pulled out a bird-a-rang. "I don't even know why you try anymore." Before the villain could even get a word in, Robin was already in attack mode, needing _some_ way to vent his anger.

"You haven't even heard my plan yet!" Dr. Light narrowly dodged a punch from the boy wonder.

"I don't see _why_ we'd need to hear it considering it's going to fail." Raven floated in the air, the other Titans on the ground beside her.

Robin glanced over at them and inwardly glanced at Starfire on the ground. _Fuck, she can't fly. _

He turned to Dr. Light with a glare, throwing a series of bird-a-rangs at the man, one slicing the side of his uniform. Robin smiled to himself, wondering why the man even tried when it was _that_ easy to get a hit. He watched as Beast Boy rammed the villain in the side when he tried to fight back, and barely got a punch in before he flew to the other side of the street.

Beast Boy shifted back, smiling proudly at his handiwork.

Robin would have snickered if it wasn't for the circumstances. His mind was still half focused on the girl he knew was behind him, and also knew without powers. He swallowed hard, but was brought back to the fight when a bolt of white light flew by him. He groaned when he realized that the man was actually trying to aim for him, but obviously was very bad at it.

At least that was what he'd thought.

The bolt hit another target, slamming straight into Starfire. Usually she would be able to take the simple hit, especially when her own abilities were from energy, but this caused her to fly straight in the air, not able to control her path. The rest, including Dr. Light, watched her crash against the metal warehouse edge and flopping down on the sidewalk like a ragdoll.

The others seemed to expect her to get back up as they went back into the fight, but Robin knew better. He understood her powers better than any of them, and when he looked at it, if all of her powers were compromised she was no better off than a…well, a human. No matter how much he hated to admit it, humans are weak, or at least weak_er_.

"Rob!"

He turned swiftly to see Cyborg glancing his way as he hit Dr. Light straight with his sonic cannon. "What're ya doin'? C'mon!"

Robin glanced back over at Starfire, and when he noticed that she still wasn't up, panic built up quickly inside of him. He ignored the rest of Cyborg's questioning and ran over to her fallen form.

It was worse than he expected. She didn't just hit the side, but apparently got stuck on a jagged edge off of the metal on her way down. Blood was pooling from a large, deep gash from her neck to the top of her head, almost making Robin want to get sick. He was shaking as he knelt down beside her, gently picking her up in his arms, keeping her head in the crook of his arm as if handling a newborn. He looked back at the fight, seeing that the others seemed to be handling Dr. Light (then again, he didn't really worry about it). He felt anger build in him when he caught Dr. Light's eye, a smug grin on his face when he saw Starfire. He turned before he went over to kill him.

He didn't even bother to watch the rest of the fight; simply got on his R-Cycle, Starfire secured in front of him, and drove back home. Some would find it completely out of character for him to leave in the middle of the fight, but the way Starfire was at the moment…well, she seemed on the brink of _death. _He vaguely remembered that you weren't supposed to move someone with a head injury – which he was certain she had _hit_ her head pretty hard as well – and that keeping her in the up position she was in now was probably not the smartest, but he just needed to get home. Get home and get her better.

When he had finally pulled into the garage, he carefully picked her up again and hurried to the entrance, making his way over to the elevator that led to the infirmary – he had Cyborg build one that that went straight there in case of situations such as this, but he hoped they would never have to use it. His motions were automatic; pushing buttons, moving through doors, setting up a bed, hooking up the EKG. He felt his heart break at the slow beat of her heart.

He felt helpless. The medical brains were distributed between Raven and Cyborg. Sure, he knew a small amount, but not enough.

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck." He tried his best not to panic as he looked around the room for something to clean and cover the large gash with. He needed to find something quick, and this point was furthered when he noticed the sheets by her head soaked in her blood. He let out a large breath of relief when he came across heavy bandaging and anti-disinfectant. He knew that they probably weren't the best for how deep the gash was, but it was as best as he could do until the others got back. Feeling completely stupid, he quickly set on an alarm to Raven's communicator to alert her of the emergency; he was too caught up in fear to even think of such a thing before.

He went over to the bed and grabbed a chair to sit up by her head, not quite sure where to start. His hands were shaking uncontrollably as he pulled his gloves off and unrolled the cloth. He grabbed the bottle, knowing he couldn't just use a cotton ball – the gash was much too large for that. He quickly poured a little on the cut, wincing as if feeling the sting himself, and busied himself with wrapping. He kept close watch on her monitor, his stomach sinking when he noticed it was slowly down even farther. Once wrapped up, he stood to set the appliances down on the counter, and then felt his breath hitch when he turned around.

Blood. Near her torso. How had he not seen it before?

He knew he couldn't turn her, so he gently lifted her bottom half to see where it was coming from. "Oh God…" He got up on the bed and put her head in his lap, reaching to her back to pull out a large, rusty piece of metal. She was losing blood because of _that_. Too much blood.

At this point, he wasn't sure if she was going to make it.

He could feel tears slide down his cheeks as he tried to find a way to turned her so he could try and wrap it up without disrupting her head injury. He felt at a complete loss, his whole body shaking, wracking his brain for _anything_ to help.

And then the monitor stopped.

He broke down.

He set her back down on the bed and ran over to the closet to grab the Defibrillator and ran back over to her, trying to see through his foggy vision due to tears. He ripped off her shirt and then turned to the machine to set it up, when he realized he had no idea how to use it. He let the paddles drop to the ground, and then himself as the tears came quicker and more freely. He could do _nothing_. He shakily brought the communicator up to see if Raven got his message, but they were still fighting. She didn't get it.

He'd run out of time.

He picked himself up off of the floor and crawled onto the bed next to her, his mind blank as he watched the woman he loved die.

And yes, he decided, he _did_ love her.

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><p><strong>What is it with me and killing off characters lately?<strong>

**Heh, my bad? **

**Maybe I'm just a morbid person, I don't know.**

**Read and Review!**


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